Turning It on (Red Hot Russians) Read Online Free PDF Page A

be long ago and far away, but old habits died hard. It worked, too. He danced four nights a week without so much as a pulled muscle.
    Jared took a cop uniform from the garment bag and hung it in the open locker next to Vlad’s. “Full house tonight. Eight private parties.”
    Vlad counted out knee bends. “How private can they be if there are eight of them?”
    “It’s business, that’s what I care about.” Jared pulled off his tight green surfer T-shirt and took a bottle of baby oil from his locker. He squirted some in his palm and rubbed it over his chest. “Plenty of regulars, too. Money should be good tonight.”
    That was welcome news. It was the end of the week, and the first of the month. Rent and the payment on the Hummer were both due.
    “You’re going to Lamar’s after-party?”
    Vlad shrugged. “Probably.”
    “That chick I told you about who dances over at Sunset Strip? She’s going to be there and wants to meet you.” Jared grinned. “You’re not still seeing that college girl, are you? Kelsey? Candy?”
    “Katie.” The name brought a melancholy twinge. “Not anymore.”
    “Whatever. You’ll forget all about her once you see Electra. And she likes three-ways, so you don’t have to limit yourself.” Jared wiggled his eyebrows, still new enough at the life to be awestruck. “Gonna be fuckin’ wall-to-wall pussy at Lamar’s, bro.”
    “Like always.”
    Jared finished with the oil, and held out the bottle. “Need any?”
    “I’m good, thanks.” He preferred cocoa butter, which looked just as shiny, but made him sweat less.
    Jared shrugged on the cop shirt and smoothed the Velcro fasteners to close the front. “Still writing your book?”
    “When I can.” Truth was, he had hardly written a page in weeks. The characters were no longer a constant presence in his mind. Not a good sign. He needed time away, a break from the routine. Like maybe ten weeks in Puerto Rico?
    Jared shook his head. “Never knew anyone who did that once, let alone twice. I get to read it when you get it done, right?”
    “Sure thing, man.”
    Jared had loved the first book, which wasn’t half as good as
The Flesh Zone
promised to be. He wasn’t the most sophisticated critic, but that wasn’t the type of reader Vlad wanted to impress. Vlad fastened the fake pearl snaps on his white dress shirt, and then tore it open to check that it parted easily. In the mirror, his bare chest gleamed, his gold crucifix resting comfortably against his skin. He resnapped the shirt and tied his black bow tie. A loud thump sounded on the door, followed by Stella’s raspy voice. “Vlad! Now!”
    He grabbed his tuxedo jacket and shades and then stepped out of the locker room, into the noisy hallway that led to the upper part of the stage. The Male Room had been a disco back in the day, with an elevated platform and steps leading down to the main dance floor. Xander’s act wasn’t quite over, and Vlad moved to the salsa music, hidden from view, waiting for the beat to carry him away. Usually it didn’t take long but tonight it did.
    Jared’s question about the book weighed on him, as did the baby-faced producer’s offer of two hundred and fifty grand. Real money. He could finish writing
The Flesh Zone
and sell it to a publisher. It was good, easily as good some of the crap he had read lately. He could walk away from The Male Room. He could be what he always longed to be. A man like Uncle Ivan. Someone good and honorable.
    Dating Katie had offered a taste of that. A respite from partying until dawn, then waking up midafternoon broke and hungover. He liked living in the daylight again. He liked being with a woman who had interests beyond the next party. He’d done some of his best writing and, though Katie was studying for her MBA, she enjoyed hearing him talk about it. The relationship had ended three months ago, when her internship was over and she’d returned to Chicago. Neither of them considered making a go at anything